HISTORY

WHAT IS HISTORY?
WHERE DOES THE WORD
HISTORY CAME FROM?
• Greek: historia
• Inquiry, investigation, research
• Only human events or activities are the
proper materials or subject in history (must
be concrete in time and place
• It is a record of triumph and tragedy of people’s
strengths and weaknesses in the quest for better life.
• History traces the progress and development of man’s
civilization from the ancient to the modern which is
largely based on written records
• The events prior to written records are considered pre
history
• The scholar who wrote history – HISTORIAN
• Study of methodology of the discipline -
HISTORIOGRAPHY
 ARE ALL
EVENTS IN
THE PAST
CONSIDERED
TO BE A STUDY
OF HISTORY?
Elements of
History
• Dates and places
• Significant events /
places
 Limitation of
historical
knowledge
• Incompleteness of records
• Whole history of the past can be known to
a historian only through the surviving
records and most of these records is only
part of the whole phenomenon
• Archeology and anthropological tools are
only in small parts
 History as the
subjective process
of re-creation
• Historian’s aim is verisimilitude (the truth,
authenticity, and plausibility) about the
past
• The study of history is a subjective
process as documents and relics are
scattered together comprise the total
object that the historian is studying
Major elements
of History
• Dates
• People
• Places
• Events
• Values
• Greeks were the first to view history with
an inquiring mind
• Herodotus (father of History) introduced a
colorful and descriptive way of writing
events
• Investigating history, theories are used
a. factual history – present the basic and
plain information to the reader with the
emphasis only of who, what, when, and
where
b. speculative – it goes beyond dates,
places, persons, events. It explain the
reasons as to how and why events happen
 Sources of
HISTORY

A. Written or Unscribed sources

- birth and death certificates
- church records / local newspapers
- school or government records
B. Graphic / Visual Materials and Artifacts
- Photographs
- Heirlooms and keepsakes
- Skeletal remains / old structures
C. Folklore / Oral Literature
D. Oral History
E. Interviews
Category
a. Primary
b. Secondary
 Methods in
writing history

• Internal criticism and external criticisms >

they meant to cross examine the
authenticity and reliability of the sources
• external criticism: authenticity and
provenance
• Internal criticism: historical reliability
 Historical
methods and
historiography
• Process of critically examining and analyzing the records
and survivals of the past (historical methods)
• Imaginative reconstruction of the past from the data
derived by that process is called historiography
• Historical analysis is one important element of historical
method
- select the subject to investigate
- collect probable sources of information
- examine the sources genuineness
- extract credible particulars
 Historical
Criticisms
• Examines the origins of earliest text
• 2 goals: (1) discover the original meaning of the text; (2)
establish a reconstruction of the historical situation of the
author and recipients of the text
• It has its roots in the 17th century during the protestant
reformation because of the absence of historical
investigation
• 2 types: (1) external; (2) internal
• External criticisms: determining the facts /
authenticity of the source
- aims to check whether the source is real or
fake
- handwriting in the documents belongs to the
handwriting of the period (paleographer)
-
• Internal criticisms: determines the
historicity of the facts contained in the
document (the character of the source and
the knowledge of the author and the
influences prevalent at the time)
 Other forms of
historical
criticisms
• Source criticism: analyzes and studies the sources
used by author
• Form criticism: seeks to determine a unit’s original form
and historical context of the literary tradition
• Reduction criticism: regards the author of the text as
editor of the source materials
• Tradition criticism: attempts to trace the developmental
stages of the oral tradition
• Canonical criticism: focuses on the interpretation of the
bible
 Test of
authenticity

• Hoax or misrepresentation from a genuine

document
• Use tests common in police and legal
detection
1. Plays a vital role in understanding the
evolution of change
2. Traces the origin of human race, from
barbaric period to civilization and the
creation of different empires
3. Understand the uniqueness of history
itself (history doesn’t repeat itself)
4. Give people sense of pride and identity